Sunsets and Silhouettes

I've gotta say, the last few evenings in Ottawa have produced some mighty fine sunsets.

Sadly, I've been too lazy to leave the house to find a nice place in which I can capture it. And last night, when we had a particularly beautiful ball of fire, diffused by a thin layer of cloud, I was sitting in the back seat of our CR-V, letting Kid 1 get some more practice in for her final driver's test, to get her G-level license.

That's today. Wish her luck (she'll nail it).

I still seek sunsets but there's a part of me that says, "You've captured so many, just sit back and enjoy them." I've become such a homebody since the pandemic started that it takes a lot of effort to head out in search of a new venue.

Last night, after returning home from Kid 1's last practice drive before her test, I was thinking of sunsets of old, when I was a young photographer, experimenting with my camera.

In my old age, I know it's wrong to climb up onto monuments. And even in my youth, there were structures that I'd never even think of clambering upon—the war memorial instantly comes to mind. But on this particular evening, on a Canada Day in the early 90s (possibly, 1992), with the sun falling low in the sky and the statues turning to silhouettes, I had to get a better vantage for my shot.

And so, I climbed up on part of the Peacekeeping Monument, on Sussex Drive, near the National Gallery of Canada.

I was with DW, who wasn't yet married to me, and our good friends, Bee and Marc. I have another shot from this evening of Marc beckoning for me to get down.

It's a shot that I'll never recreate because I'm older and wiser, and have a solid respect for all of our monuments.

(Plus, I'm too old to safely climb it... but that's besides the point.)

I'll head out for more sunset shots in the near future. Stay tuned.